What is the maximum number of Padma awards that may be conferred in a year, excluding posthumous awards and those given to foreigners and non-resident Indians?

The correct answer is C, 120. The rules provide that not more than 120 Padma awards may be conferred in a year, and awards made posthumously and those given to foreigners and non-resident Indians are counted outside that ceiling. The limit applies to the three Padma grades taken together, not to each grade separately.

Options A, B and D are round numbers chosen to look reasonable, and 100 in particular tempts candidates who remember only that there is a ceiling. The figure to hold beside this one is the convention for the Bharat Ratna, where not more than three are conferred in a year, and the fact that the Bharat Ratna need not be conferred every year at all. Both figures are rules rather than counts of recipients, which is why they are safe to memorise: unlike the running total of awardees, they do not change from year to year.